Winners 2013

Winner 2013

”Hold on... why don’t you think I’ll win BBC Sports Personality Of The Year? Who do you think is better than me?” Carl “the Cobra” Froch, the WBA and IBF super-middleweight champion, is eye-balling me from inside the ring of the Phoenix ABC gym in Nottingham where he first started boxing at the age of nine. And despite Andy Murray’s Wimbledon win, for a second, my mind goes blank.

When CNN first announced back in 2010 that GQ’s own Piers Morgan was going to take over from Larry King’s late night slot after more than twenty years, many were openly sceptical – and some on Fleet Street simply rejoiced that he was now America’s problem.

As a young man starting out in music I wanted to follow a path that had honesty and heart. On that path, Lou Reed has been the bedrock beneath my feet, and a beacon shining through the black night of crap. Those feelings of mine have not changed. Lou's always been for real to me, and never dull shit. I think that's because his music and personality have a kind of buoyancy and flexibility that makes him hard to imprison

In a year when all has changed at Old Trafford, one thing remains constant: Sir Bobby Charlton cheering in the stands. 2013 marks 60 years since Sir Bobby first signed for Manchester United as a teenager; in a remarkable career he lifted the World Cup for England, became the first Englishman to lift the European cup and, as a director of the club, helped appoint Sir Alex Ferguson. He is still England's top scorer and elder statesman, and his philanthropic work continues to inspire.